1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information reproduction and recording apparatus for reproducing from a recording medium on which music information or other information/data is recorded the information/data recorded on the same and recording it on another recording medium and to an information transfer module used for the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some audio systems, for example, car-mounted audio systems, are not only provided with compact disk (CD) players or other recording medium reproduction apparatuses to enable music reproduced by these reproduction apparatuses to be enjoyed by audio reproduction systems etc., but are also provided with hard disks of large capacities of for example tens of gigabytes and hard disk drives (HDD) for driving the same to enable the contents of a large number of CDs or other recording media to be dubbed onto the hard disks so as to enable any music tracks to be selected from the hard disks and reproduced by the audio reproduction system etc. for enjoyment (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-230893).
With such an audio system, it is possible to record in advance the contents of a large number of recording media, for example, CDs, on the built-in hard disk so as to easily read out from the hard disk and enjoy the favorite tracks of a large number of CDs even without loading and ejecting the CDs. In particular, in a car-mounted audio system, which is frequently operated while driving, dubbing onto a hard disk eliminates the need for loading and ejecting CDs or other recording media. This is preferable from the viewpoint of safe driving.
FIG. 4 is a view of the configuration of a music information reproduction and recording apparatus of the related art for reproducing music information of a CD and recording it on a hard disk. At the time of reproduction and recording of music, a CD player or other music data reproducing unit 2 drives a loaded CD 6 at a high rotational speed under the control of a system controller 1, reads out the tracks of recorded music information/data from the high speed rotating CD 6, and reproduces and outputs them. The reproduced data is encoded at a high speed by a high speed encoder 4, then is supplied to an HDD 5 as recording information/data and recorded on a hard disk (not shown) built in the HDD 5.
Summarizing the problems to be solved by the invention, music CDs contain a plurality of tracks of music, in which either the interval between tracks is soundless or the music data is continuous. Therefore, to record a plurality of tracks on a hard disk of an information reproduction and recording apparatus of the related art configured as explained above without harm to the music data between tracks and without a feeling of strangeness in the transition of the tracks, it is necessary to identify the start and end of each track, including the track intervals, and successively reproduce and output the music data of the section between them.
Therefore, when the system controller 1 instructs the reproduction of the first track, the music data reproducing unit 2 identifies the start and end of that track and reproduces and outputs the music data and track interval data of that section. When recording of the first track of data on the hard disk is completed, the system controller 1 instructs the reproduction of the next track and the music data reproducing unit 2 starts the output of the next track of data, so valid data comprised of the music data and track interval data and invalid data of the next track of data etc. are alternately output from the music data reproducing unit 2 as shown in FIG. 5.
That is, there is invalid data since it is necessary to ignore reproduced data arriving during the processing for compressing, recording, etc. the first track of music data and not including music data. After such processing, reproduced data is transmitted as valid data from the head position of the next track.
In such an information reproduction and recording apparatus, if employing a data transfer system transferring data by a small number of signal lines such as a three-line serial peripheral interface (SPI), the above invalid data also is encoded and recorded on the hard disk causing a feeling of strangeness in the transition between tracks.
That is, with a data transfer system of the three-line serial peripheral interface, when transferring audio signal data (DATA) comprised of an L channel signal and R channel signal alternately arranged, a clock signal LRCK and clock signal BCK are simultaneously transferred. Here, the clock signal LRCK is a transfer clock for identifying the L channel transfer data and R channel transfer data, while the clock signal (bit clock signal) BCK is a transfer clock used for determining the timing of input/output of the transfer data (music data) DATA.
Further, the encoder 4 is designed so as to encode the signal data DATA when receiving both the clock signals LRCK and BCK, but as explained above, the signals used for a three-line serial peripheral interface include the data signal DATA and clock signals LRCK and BCK. These transferred signals do not include information on the start and end of the tracks including the track intervals of the music data. Therefore, invalid data and other redundant data ends up being encoded and recorded on the hard disk in some cases. When reproducing music recorded on the hard disk, the unnecessary signals at the track intervals were reproduced and caused a strange feeling.